SEATTLE – The Seattle Sounders were eliminated from the MLS Cup Playoffs on Sunday night, but it was tough for the club’s players and coaches not to put their season into perspective even after an excruciating end to their best MLS season yet.
The Sounders had history on their mind this postseason after winning both the U.S. Open Cup and the Supporters’ Shield earlier this year, and were in line for what would have been an unprecedented treble had they managed to win the MLS Cup.
But for the Sounders, even the crushing series loss to the LA Galaxy had to be met with a dose of perspective.
“The reality is, as you get older, you tend to allow yourself to look at the season as a whole,” said midfielder Brad Evans, who scored the first Seattle goal on Sunday night. “[The season] was a success. It would be more of a disappointment if we didn’t capture the Open Cup and Supporters’ Shield and had squeaked into the playoffs and found ourselves in this position.”
Goalkeeper Stefan Freinoted the odd feeling of ending the season on a victory, saying that at any other time in the season, the Sounders probably would have been thrilled with how Sunday’s game turned out.
“We played well today,” Frei said. “During the middle of the season, against a tough opponent like LA, you’re going to walk away really proud of that game.”
Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid echoed Evans, telling reporters following the game that he still felt immense pride in his team’s accomplishments despite the heartbreaking ending.
“I’m going to see [this team] as a team that accomplished a hell of a lot,” Schmid said.
“I’m really proud of our team. I’m proud of their effort, I’m proud of their fight to the very end … We’ve won five trophies now in six years. There aren’t a lot of clubs that have [accomplished that] in this league.”
LA dispatched the Sounders by virtue of the away-goal tiebreaker, a rule new to the MLS playoff system this season. Although losing on the away-goal rule was a tough pill to swallow, the Sounders say they understand the double-edged nature of the system after they capitalized on the rule in the conference semifinals, advancing on a road goal from Osvaldo Alonso against FC Dallas.
“Now, you look back and wish the away goals didn’t count [for more],” Evans said. “But in the first round we advanced because of it. This round we got stung by it.”
Added Schmid: “If it was the same as it was last year, we’d still be playing right now. But I’ve been on the other side of it where I got eliminated where if the away-goal rule was in there we would have moved onto the championship. It just works out that way sometimes.”
Even with the trophies they did manage to bag this year, Schmid and the Sounders are now left to spend another offseason lamenting what could have been.
“Supporters’ Shield is nice, it’s great because it is a reflection of the whole season, it shows we were the best team over the whole season,” he Schmid said. “Unfortunately it decides that the MLS Cup winner is the top team. That’s a mountain we haven’t climbed yet — I thought for sure this could be our year to climb that mountain. I thought we were very close to it.”
